Clearly was born April 12, 1916, in McMinnville before eventually moving to a farm in Yamhill.

According to her bio, Cleary’s mother arranged with the State Library to have books sent to her small town since it had no library. Cleary’s mother acted as librarian in a lodge room upstairs over a bank.

The acclaimed author worked as a librarian until becoming a full-time children’s book writer in 1942. Since the publication of her first book Henry Huggins in 1950, nearly 100 million copies of her books have been sold in 25 languages worldwide.

Cleary’s works have earned several awards including the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts. In 1984 she won the John Newbery Medal for her book Dear Mr. Henshaw.